Seven Sins of a Decimo
by ravenromance27
Summary: A look at the seven deadly sins through the eyes and mind of one Vongola Decimo and the people that surround and populate his world.
1. Superbia

**SUPERBIA**

_Pride_

_**We are rarely proud when we are alone. **_

_Voltaire_

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_**Definition**: It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others_

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Someone who had been mocked and taunted and generally turned into the school's joke wouldn't have the faintest modicum of pride left to spare for petty things and certainly the former Dame Tsuna understood this universal truth more than anyone else. Whenever people would ask what brought him joy and pride in the famiglia, his answers were never quite what they expected.

His pride, whatever amount he had inside him, was devoted in its entirety, to the preservation and well-being of his strange and decidedly eclectic famiglia. But unlike most people in his position, his pride wasn't rooted in the things that normally brought people fame or glory. Or even the things that he could claim were his to be proud of.

He didn't care for the power his position and his centuries-old name carried-he cared only that his famiglia is whole and safe and that he could offer them protection and a place to call their own. He didn't care for the might of the Vongola name, only that he now has the means to make sure that his family's name was now being slowly and carefully cleansed of the blood and sin it has carried for decades.

He took no stock of the influence his family holds over the other famiglias, caring only that with his alliance and their allegiance he could move quicker, save more, use less force and possibly change his world faster and without being reduced to force or violence.

He didn't pay much attention to the politics and back stabbing in his world because he has chosen his guardians well and wasn't about to change any one of them for any of the usurpers who tried and still tries with wiles, lies and cunning to gain a toehold in his world.

He has chosen them and for none of the usual reasons. Certainly not for their wealth, intelligence, influence or even connections. He didn't choose any of them for what they could bring to him but rather because they were the ones whose trust he has earned and kept. Whatever they may say about him, he could certainly hold his head high and say none of things that being Decimo brought him anything in way of having what traditionally consists of 'pride'.

Instead, Decimo takes pride in the fact that Fuuta finally finished college with honors and with relatively little intrusion from the underworld. He takes pride when the ranking prince took his Lightning guardian under his wing, taught the young boy how to read and dress and study and gave of himself freely every spare time he had. He takes pride in the little crybaby who grew up to be a reliable, trustworthy man who managed to remain sweet and innocent even amidst the turmoil that characterized their world.

He takes pride in I-pin's decision to step out and away from the Famiglia to try and live a relatively normal life, free from the expectations and demands that would be made on her skills and talents as an assassin. He takes pride in her simplistic tastes and goals and in her perseverance in trying to make it through her school without any financial backing coming from him. He takes pride in her independence in trying to find work that supported her goals and dreams and gain her pride in herself in return.

And takes pride every single time his sadistic, ruthless, lethal, god-complex-stricken mentor of a hitman gives him a little nod to indicate that he has done a good job.


	2. Luxuria

_**LUXURIA **_

_Lust_

_**The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it...**_

_**And I can resist everything but temptation.**_

_Oscar Wilde_

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_**Definition:** lechery (carnal "luxuria") is an intense desire._

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The old Dame Tsuna wouldn't know charm if it bit him and presented him with an exorbitant bill. Suffice to say, what he sees as charm, most people would correctly know as slyness or cunning. The closest he has seen of the real thing, he could only attribute to Yamamoto's relentless and often disturbing friendliness and Sasagawa Kyoko's appeal.

It was therefore understandable that when Dame Tsuna became Decimo and learned that people talked about how charming he was, it was fair to say he didn't have a clue. Or to be more precise—you could present him with a video presentation, a detail thesis and a full-blown production number complete with puppets and he still wouldn't have the faintest understanding of what you're talking about.

He didn't have even the vaguest notion why Fuuta would break out his ranking book and I-pin has taken to pointing out to Kyoko and Haru whenever women would show him the barest fluttering of lashes. Or why many mafia mama's learned to be wary of Bianchi offering luncheon whenever the subject of Decimo's matrimonial prospects were being discussed.

He didn't have the faintest idea of what a trial it was for his two best friends and guardians to keep away dons, both young and old from taking unfair advantage of their very own oblivious and all too-sweet Decimo. He didn't wonder about the fact that his Storm Guardian, Italian lineage and mafia birthright notwithstanding, never once encouraged him to get used to the custom of exchanging brief kisses on the cheek, curtailing anyone who made an attempt with the judicious and at times forceful display of his dynamite.

He certainly didn't think much about the fact that his Rain Guardian would casually unsheathe his katana whenever the handshakes lingered far beyond the norm of common courtesy. Or the mocking grin that would paint his Mist's lips whenever the brushes of fingers and palms along his pale wrist and arms occurred more frequently when he did have chance to expose them.

He certainly never thought to wonder why his Sun and Lightning guardians would take to growling at meetings that segued into late dinners and the arguments that would usually break out when the question of who sat next to him erupts. Or why regardless of the weather or even the country they attended, Reborn insisted that he wore a complete 3-piece suit with the addendum that under no circumstance was he to loosen even a single button on his shirt, smile more than once or stare too deeply or too long at anyone, regardless of gender or age.

It certainly never crossed his mind that the reason his taciturn Cloud Guardian had to be summoned abruptly into service after the mansion's security team called in for immediate back up was because he decided to sunbathe in his own pool side wearing nothing but shades and simple linen pants.


	3. Gula

**GULA**

_Gluttony_

_**Virtue is a habit of the mind, consistent with nature and moderation and reason. **_

_Marcus Tullius Cicero_

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_Definition: Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony (Latin, gula) is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste._

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Living in excess was a foreign concept to someone who was raised in genteel middle class. He never really knew what disparity and degradation hunger for power and wealth could create until he met his Famiglia and was properly introduced to their world. Only then did he understand what it means to hunger.

The darkest depths of the mafia is a living, thriving mindless being that hungers and craves everything that the world offers. A world that battles and betrays in a thousand different ways and through a million faces and facades in order to have everything they ever sought.

It is here in this world that he has learned of organizations so powerful and wealthy that they no longer think twice about turning a child—a helpless little baby girl into a killing machine. They pay no heed that a child will grow up thinking that human life is nothing more than a target—a goal to be accomplished and dealt with in the most expeditious manner possible. That in their world a child could be born and raised not knowing what being a child means—one who instead of being bathed in perfume and roses, dressed in silk and dreams bathes in blood of her kills and wears the entrails of those who life she claimed like a proud banner.

It is here—in the dark corner of the Underworld he understood that there are people so consumed with the need for power and control that they would chase after a child who had nothing and no one all over the world in order to manipulate and exploit a talent he didn't ask to be born with. Of people who didn't care who they had to trample, kill or attack in order to gain just the slightest bit more advantage, just the right sort of leverage provided by a child who has lost everything—his home, his family, his freedom.

Only here has he encountered the kind of hunger for clout and control that is fueled by heedless wealth that permitted the Bovino famiglia to send their children out into the world carrying caches of weapons, not even caring that they were children who should be playing with toys not things that could scar them for life or take that fragile gift away so easily.

It is only in this foul, decaying oubliette of their dark world that has he learned the truth of how the pursuit all-consuming hunger for supremacy and affluence could allow the deranged heads of the Estraneo Famiglia to reduce children bearing their own blood to nothing more than lab rats to exploit and experiment on. The kind of hunger for power that blinded everyone to the dubious intents and practices of men who had forgotten what it means to be human.

The kind of deprivation that resulted in the madness and anguish that festers in the hearts of his Mist and his own little famiglia as they scrounged and scoured for sustenance in the decrepit, dilapidated ruins of the only place they could call their own.


	4. Avaritia

**AVARITIA**

_Greed_

_**Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live; **_

_**It is asking others to live as one wishes to live.**_

_Oscar Wilde_

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_Definition__: Greed (Latin, avaritia), also known as avarice or covetousness, a sin of excess. Applied to a very excessive or rapacious desire and pursuit of material possessions_

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Dame-Tsuna. Sawada Tsunayoshi. Vongola Famiglia Decimo has never been greedy for anything in his life. Being at the bottom list of everyone and standing at the outskirts of everything since kindergarten, he has long learned how to make do with what little lot he had in life. Anyone else in position would have rebelled or at least made some token resistance regarding his unfortunate circumstance but the truth was he didn't have the heart to cause anyone any harm. Nevermind what they did to him—it wasn't in him to retaliate.

And so he made do. With the lack of respect, expectation or even regard. He accepted it as his rightful due for being 'No-good'. It wasn't until he had inherited the role of Decimo that he learned that he had inside of him a streak of unmistakable capacity for greediness.

He was greedy for the carefree laughter and giggles his mother would let out whenever any of his 'adopted' family would do something amusing or unusual. Greedy for the evidence of joy that made her eyes brighter than he'd ever seen them before. Greedy for the ready smile that tugs at the corner of her lips whenever he would come home with his friends trailing behind him. Greedy for all the times sadness lies absent from her gaze and the memory of her husband's absence no longer haunts her.

He was greedy for the enthusiasm and liveliness that Haru brings with her…greedy for her sometimes reckless gestures and even more earnest beliefs in his goodness and his ability to do what is right that acts like a living personification of his conscience—reminding him that she would always be there to stand as guard and sentinel to his morals and actions.

He was greedy for the boundless bliss that one smile from Sasagawa Kyoko brought to him every day. Greedy for the hope that blooms deep in his heart whenever he received one of her smiles, her laugh. Greedy for the times she would speak calmly to him, soothing his fears and offering succor in a world that becomes too riotous for even the most stalwart of hearts. Greedy for the future he sometimes couldn't help but imagine whenever she was close enough to touch.

He was greedy for the rare times when his Storm would calm his fiery temper, his overzealous devotion and his insistence on his role as right-hand man and play the piano. He finds that he is selfish and greedy for every note, every sonata, nocturne and concerto he would graciously perform whenever time and occasion allowed for it. He is greedy for every minute that his Storm's tempestuous winds grow gentle and tranquil, calming those around him with the trills and lilts he coaxes from his chosen instrument, greedy for the sight of those elegant hands flowing and floating through ivory keys with the same delicacy and skill he had no choice but demonstrate using a far more unforgiving medium. Greedy for the times when his Storm offers shelter from the chaos that surrounds them all.

He is greedy for the times when Yamamoto plays his favorite game with joyous abandon. When his Rain immerses himself in the sport that celebrates his God-given skills and all his talents for the entire world to see, admire and appreciate. Greedy for all the days when his rain could just be another boy playing a game that other boys throughout the ages had played—just another boy obsessed with the game that consists of nothing more sinister than a ball, a bat and field to run into. Greedy for the times when his gentle Rain did not involve himself in things that had to do with their shadowy world. Greedy for the times when his Rain's beautiful dark eyes maintained their purity, their sparkle and their playful mischievousness. Greedy for all the times when the sharpness in his piercing gaze was absent.

He was greedy for his Sun's boundless enthusiasm and determination to live life to the fullest. Greedy of all the times when his Sun's laughter, cheer and sheer presence would light up the room, pumping them all with hope and belief that everything could be accomplished as long as you worked hard enough for it. Greedy for his purity and innocence even in the midst of the darkness that pervades their world. Greedy for the warmth of his Sun's conviction that he was a man worth being followed and that his famiglia was worth saving. Greedy for the strength of his Sun's courage to remain true and valiant and always with honor.

He was greedy for his Lightning's tears and laughter and dependence. Greedy enough to wish time would stop so that he could hoard all the hours and all the days when he could keep this loud, cranky, demanding, rambunctious boy who invaded in his life safe and free from the demands and expectations of their world. Greedy for the chances and opportunities he could fashion for him so that this child he considers part-son and part-brother could grow up in a world no longer bathed in blood. Greedy for his Lightning to remain a child to him and for him just a little bit longer.

He was greedy for his Mists—male and female alike—acceptance. Greedy for the times when he could support them and help them heal. Greedy for the times when Mukuro would still playfully and mockingly announce that he was biding his time before he possess' his body. Greedy for Chromes soft hesitant voice speaking out and telling him about her day or how she was. Greedy for the times when Mukuro's eyes would light up—not in mischief or derision—but simple joy at the sight of his band of merry men forgetting their damaged pasts. Greedy for the trusting warmth of Chrome's hand when she would reach out for his arm whenever old fears and shyness would take a hold of her heart. Greedy for the moments when his Mists would allow themselves to be brought into his home, his keeping…partaking of meals in his presence, allowing him to see them as they truly were, as he truly was.

He was greedy for his Cloud's rare smiles and even rarer shows of approval. Greedy for the look of acceptance that he seldom casts in anyone's way—unless he deems them worthy of praise. Greedy for the times when his taciturn Cloud would be persuaded to join in his quests and his quiet missions. Greedy for the words—no matter their content—that passes from thin lips so used to being kept firmly in line. Greedy for the sound of his voice relaxed and teasing, so used was he to its usual tenor of issuing threats and commands and ultimatums. Greedy for the simple joy of sitting next to his drifting Cloud whenever the man allows himself to be caught for just one more minute, one second longer, one moment more.

But he has learned that he was especially greedy for the sight of his family warm and safe and untroubled. For that sight and truth alone, Decimo would admit that he should be allowed to be greedy.


End file.
